


Awards and Rewards

by WorryinglyInnocent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Friendships and Fandoms'verse, NSFW, Smut, The Oscars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 18:06:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10037582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: Set about two years after the epilogue ofFriendships and Fandoms. Belle and Gold are going to the Oscars, where Belle is hoping to get lucky, and Gold is more than willing to help her celebrate her possible win in style.





	

**Author's Note:**

> _The Redemption of Althalus_ is one of my all-time favourite books and I really wish they’d make a film/TV series of it.

 

Gold looked around the living room of their suite as he got ready. Whilst he definitely appreciated luxury hotels, this was a good deal fancier than the rooms they usually stayed in when they came out to these kind of affairs. Still, it was the Oscars. It was a special occasion and definitely a reason to splurge. He went over to the mini-bar as he fastened his cufflinks, pouring himself a Scotch and wondering if Belle would like a gin and tonic to calm her nerves. She’d been a fraught bundle of energy all day, and for the last two hours she and Ruby had been ensconced in the bedroom doing Belle’s hair and make-up. Presently, the soft murmur of their voices got louder, and then the bedroom door swung open and Belle rushed out, beginning pacing up and down the living room.

“Belle?” Gold ventured. Her hair was up in an elaborate style and her make-up was perfect, but beneath the foundation she was as pale as a ghost. She was also wearing the complimentary fluffy bathrobe instead of her gown. Ruby leaned in the bedroom doorway, and exchanged a worried look with Gold

“I can’t do this,” Belle said, continuing to pace. “I can’t do this.”

“What can’t you do?” Gold pressed.

“This!” Belle exclaimed, gesturing around the room and then to Gold in his tux. “The bloody Oscars! The red carpet, the dress, the paparazzi. That’s what I can’t do!”

“Why not?”

“Because… Because I just can’t!”

“Belle…” Gold put down his whisky tumbler and went over to Belle, stepping neatly into the path of her pacing and taking her shoulders in a friendly grip before turning her face up towards him with a finger under her chin. She was looking absolutely stunning, and incredibly sad and scared.

“Belle, love, you’ve been to red carpet events before. You’ve been to premieres and awards ceremonies with me before and you’ve never had this reaction.”

“I’ve never been to the _Oscars_ before!” Belle exclaimed. “And all the other award ceremonies I’ve been to where I’ve been nominated were within industry and weren’t being streamed live across the globe where everyone can see me and laugh at me and pass comment about how my dress makes me look fat or frumpy or slutty or just plain ridiculous!”

“Belle, your dress is beautiful and does not make you look any of those things,” Gold reassured her, pushing a tendril of hair back behind her ear where it had come forward in her frantic movement.

Belle’s shoulders sagged. “I just… This has to be perfect. Because this is… This is me. This is my time, and I have to carry it. All the other times I’ve been on the red carpet with cameras flashing in my face and people making snide comments about what I’m wearing, it didn’t matter because I wasn’t there for me. I was there for you. Your plus one. But tonight…”

“Tonight I’m going as your plus one and you deserve your time in the spotlight, sweetheart,” Gold said, his voice matter of fact.

“But I don’t want my time in the spotlight!” Belle moaned. “It’s just so much easier when I can hide behind you!”

Gold put his arms around her and let her bury her face in his neck, stroking her back gently through the soft, thick white towelling.

“Belle, you’ve worked so hard and this is your reward. You’re nominated for an Academy Award because you’re so amazing. This really shouldn’t be making you as stressed as it is.”

“I just don’t want to embarrass you,” Belle mumbled against his neck.

“Belle, have you ever done so before?” She glanced up at him and he raised an eyebrow. “The answer to that one is no, by the way.”

“I know. It’s just… before it didn’t matter because I wasn’t really in with the crowd, so to speak. I wasn’t really in the industry.”

“Belle, you are in the industry.”

“Yeah, but not in the part of the industry that expects you to look amazing all the time. Now I’m nominated and I can’t hide anymore. It all has to be perfect or the world’s going to pity you for getting married to such a…”

“Belle, don’t even finish that thought. If you do I will be very cross.” He pressed a finger to her pink lips. “Do you really think I give a flying fuck what the rest of the world thinks? To me you are gorgeous, you are perfect, whether you’re in a jaw-dropping evening gown or in your pyjamas. You deserve every accolade that is sent your way because you work so hard for it all. So now’s the time to own this moment and make it yours, and step out of my shadow into your own spotlight. You know I’ll always fight your corner.”

Belle looked at him for a long moment, then finally she nodded, giving him a weak smile.

“Will you help me with my dress?” she asked.

“Of course.”

Ruby came over and pecked Belle’s cheek.

“You’re going to knock them dead,” she said. “I promise.”

Ruby left them then, and Belle took Gold’s hand, leading him back into the bedroom where she’d been hidden away for the afternoon. Make-up and hair products littered the dressing table, and hanging on the wardrobe door was Belle’s dress.

Since this was Belle’s award and her time, Gold had treated her to a custom-made designer dress, and Esmeralda Paris had worked wonders. It was a rich, royal blue silk with iridescent handworked beading over the strapless bodice and trickling down the slightly flared skirt. It was a simple design but it worked well with Belle’s petite figure, not drowning her like evening gowns had a tendency to do.

She slipped off the robe, leaving her in just her lacy panties in a pale champagne colour. Gold had to smile when he saw them.

“Got your lucky knickers on, I see.”

Belle finally gave a genuine grin. “Well, they’ve worked well in the past, after all. I thought that even if I don’t get lucky at the ceremony, I could still get lucky after.”

“You, my dear, will definitely be getting lucky later.” Gold leaned in to kiss her, one hand skimming up her side to cup her bare breast, brushing his thumb over her nipple. Belle gasped with pleasure against his mouth but then batted his hand away.

“Remember what I said about looking ridiculous? Well, that includes my nipples showing through my dress!”

“I thought that Ariel had given you some of those stick-on things to stop such mishaps?” He snaked his other hand up and pinched her other nipple.

“Well, yes, but that’s beside the point! Rum!” she gasped as he bent to kiss her breasts, laving his tongue over the dusky tips. “You’re doing this on purpose to distract me!”

“Is it working?” Gold asked from her décolletage.

“Yes, damn you! But seriously, Rum, I don’t want my hair or make-up messed up now, Ruby will kill me!”

“All right.” Rum conceded that point. As inviting as a quickie sounded and as much as it would help Belle relax, it would make them both rather dishevelled. “Come on, let’s get this lovely dress on. Where are your stickers?”

Belle rummaged in her overnight bag and pulled out a little plastic packet containing a pair of nude nipple covers in the shape of flowers.

“I remember the first time you tried these out,” Gold murmured as they each peeled the backing off a sticker. He’d come home after shooting one day to find Belle wearing leopard print pasties and a blush, and a very fun time had been had by all. “I nearly had a heart attack.”

“Well, that would certainly make headline news. ‘Leading actor collapses from lust at Oscar ceremony’.”

The pasties in place, Gold carefully unzipped the dress and unhooked it from its padded hanger as Belle slipped into her shoes, softly shimmering silver pumps that made her legs go on for miles.

“All right. Time for the main event.”

She stepped into the dress, holding it up over her chest as Gold zipped her, and she finally turned to face him.

“Do I look ok?”

“Sweetheart, _ok_ will be never be enough to do you justice. Look.”

He turned her so that she could see herself in the full length mirror, and ran his hands down her bare arms, kissing her shoulder. “You, my dear, are _exquisite_.”

He saw her smile and slipped a hand into his inside jacket pocket, taking out a slim black case. “Just one thing missing.”

“Rum…” Belle tailed off as he fastened the diamond and sapphire necklace around the delicate column of her throat. “Rum, that’s beautiful, but seriously… You already got me the dress…”

“Allow me to treat my winner,” Gold said. “This is your time and it’s going to be perfect for you.”

“I haven’t won yet,” Belle mumbled.

“You’ve got this far, and that’s more than enough for me.”

The phone by the bed shrilled into life and Belle, who was closer, grabbed the receiver.

“Ok, thank you.” She turned to Rum. “The limo’s here.”

Gold held out a hand to her. “If you’re ready, Mrs Gold?”

She picked up her purse off the bed and grabbed his hand.

“More than ready, Mr Gold.”

X

Belle didn’t think that she would ever get used to walking on the red carpet. Going to Rum’s premieres was one thing. For all the pomp and circumstance surrounding them, they were a lot smaller affairs than the overwhelming spectacle that was taking place around her now. Going to Rum’s premieres, she was going as his plus one. She could fade into the background whilst he did all the talking.

This red carpet, however, was something entirely different. Belle blinked as a camera flashed in her face and dark spots danced in her eyes for a few seconds afterwards, disorientating her until the gentle squeeze of Rum’s arm around her waist grounded her back in the moment. No, she was no plus one tonight. She was here in her own right.

She’d been nominated. And not just nominated for anything.

Nominated for an _Academy Award._

The one thing she had really not been prepared for was the sheer volume. There was just so much noise, so many people all shouting for the attention of those walking the red carpet, production runners bouncing around here, there and everywhere to ensure that everyone got to the right place at the right time and all the photographs were taken on cue and no-one was missed out. It was deafening. This was not her first award ceremony, but all of the others she had attended had been small, private affairs with very little press, prestigious and well-respected within her own industry but not very well represented in the mainstream media. The technical aspects of TV and movie-making never received the same coverage as the ‘front of camera’ roles, and Belle had always been perfectly fine with that. This was something else entirely. She was at the stage of wishing for someone, anyone, she knew to come over and strike up a conversation, even if it was someone she didn’t like, just so that she could have something to do rather than look around at the mob of photographers and reporters and wonder how she had arrived here from where she started. She wasn’t ungrateful for the privilege that had been bestowed upon her, but she thought that red carpet events and huge televised award ceremonies really ought to come with instruction manuals.

“Belle! Rum!” Jasmine Sultan, the BBC’s entertainment correspondent, waved them over. Belle had met her at one of Rum’s premieres before, and she liked the bright young woman.

“So, Belle, how does it feel to be nominated for an Oscar?”

“You know, I really don’t think it’s sunk in properly yet,” Belle admitted.

“Rum, how are you feeling, being able to take a back seat this time?”

“It’s great,” Rum said. “I’m just so incredibly proud of her and I’m glad that she’s got the recognition she deserves.” He leaned in and pecked a kiss to Belle’s cheek, lingering perhaps a little longer than necessary. Belle had to grin.

“Ok, necessary evil now, I have to ask you about the dress. I know, it’s boring, but we’ve all got our orders.”

“This is by Esmeralda Paris,” Belle said. “I hope you like it?” she added, a little nervously.

“It’s amazing.” Jasmine lowered her mic and muttered behind her hand: “You’re definitely one of the best dressed here today, don’t worry.”

Belle smiled, feeling much happier now that she’d had a journalist’s seal of approval. She knew that it was stupid to worry about what the world thought of her outfit, but in the hype and bustle and sheer terror of the run up to the ceremony, she was fretting just as much as the actresses were.

“What about your jewellery?”

“That is… I have no idea, actually,” Belle admitted. “It was a gift. Rum?”

“That’s my little secret.” Rum winked and after the necessary pleasantries were exchanged, they continued their amble down the red carpet.

“Rum! Belle!”

Emma came over to them, wearing a stunning white dress.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” she said. “I was beginning to think that you weren’t going to come. And you look amazing, by the way.”

“Thank you. Well, thank Rum, he paid for it.”

“You’re worth every penny, my dear.” Rum kissed her again and squeezed her hand. “Graham not here?” he asked Emma.

“No, he’s babysitting. He figured I needed a night on the tiles.”

This was Emma’s first big public event since having her and Graham’s daughter six months ago.

“I’ve never been so glad of the invention of the empire line,” Emma muttered. “Thank god for flattering fabrics. Mind you, if one more person asks how I’m getting on with losing the baby weight, I’ll smack them with my Spanx.”

Belle laughed.

“You are looking radiant, Emma, honestly.”

“I think I used an entire tube of Touche Éclat on the dark circles under my eyes. Never have children, Belle. I don’t recommend it. I swear I wasn’t this exhausted after I’d had Henry. Then again, that was sixteen years ago.”

Belle laughed, beginning to relax a little. Emma was still the same Emma she’d always been despite now being on the red carpet, and it was good to have a friend.

“Well, good luck!” Emma said. “I know you’ll get it. The film was so beautiful.”

Belle nodded her thanks as Rum steered her along the red carpet again towards the next cluster of photographers and journalists.

“It’s all going to be fine,” he whispered in her ear. “And no matter what happens, I promise that I’ll make you forget the terror of the red carpet later.”

“I’m counting on you making me forget my own name,” Belle muttered in reply.

Rum chuckled. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

Belle felt warmth coiling in the pit of her stomach at the thought, and she focussed on that heavy anticipation as another reporter approached, a well-known face from a fashion magazine.

“Hi there, the dress is Esmeralda Paris and Rum won’t tell me where the jewellery came from…”

X

It was almost time. Belle’s knuckles were white where she was gripping Gold’s hand beside her, and he glanced across to see her staring at the stage with wide, unblinking eyes.

On the stage, Merlin Emrys, America’s current favourite British import and host of _Entertainment Tonight_ , was engaging the audience with his easy flowing patter whilst everything was set up ready for the next award. Best Make-Up.

Tara Punzel, an up and coming new actress who’d been discovered at the same art school Belle had studied at, came on stage to present the award. It was clear that Belle wasn’t taking in anything that was being said, just watching the film clips on the screen, crossing her fingers when her own film was shown. It was a high fantasy masterpiece that had four months to shoot on location in Scotland and Southern Greece, and Belle had poured so much effort and love into creating the designs and bringing them to life on set.

“The Academy Award for Best Make-Up goes to… Belle French, for _The Redemption of Althalus!”_

For a long moment, Belle didn’t move, and Gold squeezed her hand.

“Belle, love. You’ve got to go.”

She nodded and turned to him, a brilliant smile breaking out over her face, and quickly kissed his lips before slipping out of her seat and moving down towards the stage and taking her award from Tara.

Gold settled back in his seat as she took to the lectern amid the applause, clapping until his hands were sore.

“Thank you,” Belle began. There was a quaver in her voice. “Thank you so much. This is such an honour, and I really don’t know what to say except thank you. To the producers who gave me this opportunity, looked at my designs and said ‘yeah, I think that’ll look good’, to all the rest of the crew and the fans who made the movie such a big success, to the actors and actresses who put up with me prodding them for hours, most of all to the rest of my wonderful team who worked tirelessly to make my vision come to fruition. And of course, to my amazing husband. Without these people I wouldn’t be standing up here today. So _thank you._ ”

Merlin came forward and kissed her hand, as Tara led her away backstage, and Gold thought that, when Belle looked back over her shoulder before she vanished away, she caught his eye. He blew her a kiss.

This was Belle’s moment, and she deserved every minute of it.

X

By the time they got back to their hotel room after finally breaking away from the after-party, it was the small hours of the morning, but Belle was still giggling, both from the champagne and the general euphoria. She had won an Oscar. She put the statuette on the minibar and admired it, feeling Rum’s arms come around her to rest on her hips, his lips brushing the back of her neck.

“So how does it feel to be an Academy Award winner, my dear?” he asked, voice silky and full of promise.

“It feels wonderful,” she breathed, closing her eyes and leaning back against him. “It feels almost as wonderful as what you’re doing with your mouth.”

He chuckled, breath huffing against her skin, and licked over her pulse point.

“And how do you intend to celebrate your success?” he growled.

“I intend to get my husband naked and celebrate in a wholly carnal fashion,” Belle replied, lacing her fingers through his and squeezing. “I believe that he promised to make me forget my own name.”

“Indeed he did.”

She slipped her hands out of his and turned to face him, sliding her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a deep kiss, his lips parting eagerly and his tongue slipping between her teeth.

“So,” Belle continued a little breathlessly as they broke away. “I vote that we take this to the bedroom and get started.”

“I second that decision.”

They made their way into the bedroom, still stealing kisses, until Belle finally pulled away with a sigh, unfastening her necklace and setting it on the dressing table. “Just let me freshen up a little. I need to take these things off my nipples, they’re starting to itch.”

She rushed into the bathroom, startling with a little growl when Rum patted her bum as she left him, and unzipped the side of her dress, the heavy beading making it fall immediately, and she tucked a towel in around her waist to protect it before peeling the stickers off her nipples and carefully rubbing them with a damp washcloth to get rid of any remaining glue. She was already puckered and pert in anticipation, and the rough cloth was definitely not helping matters. She glanced in the mirror; her hair was coming down and her mascara had settled into the little creases beneath her eyes; a little extra time to clean up wouldn’t go amiss. With hair brushed and make-up washed off, she zipped up the dress again, the silk maddening against her sensitive nipples, and returned to the bedroom. Rum had made use of the time to dim the lights and turn the bed down; his tuxedo jacket was hanging up and he’d taken his shoes and socks off, but he still looked so very thoroughly fuckable that she wanted nothing more than to rip the rest of his clothes off and ride him right there on the floor.

“I can see what you mean about not wanting those to be seen on the red carpet,” he said, eyeing her chest and the prominent points there.

“Oh, just shut up and kiss me.”

“With pleasure.”

It was a fierce kiss, fuelled by a bit too much champagne and a bit too much heady bravado, but Belle didn’t care, slanting her mouth over her husband’s and wrestling with his bow tie, his hands roaming up and down her sides. Finally she succeeded in untying the thing and throwing it off to the side, then making a start on his shirt buttons. Rum just chuckled against her mouth, moving around to her cheek and ear and neck, his soft ministrations at odds with her frantic movements.

“Eager, love?” he whispered in her ear before sucking on the lobe.

“I did say that I intended to get my husband naked, and I intend to do that as quickly as possible.” Rum let go of her to get his cufflinks as Belle went for his belt, and within another few seconds, all of his clothes were on the floor.

“You seem quite eager yourself, love,” Belle teased, stroking his half-hard cock.

“It’s you and your insatiable smile,” Rum growled, guiding her down to sit on the end of the bed and kneeling down to hook her shoes off, pressing a kiss to each instep. “I swear I’ve been on the edge all evening. I think that would have caused slightly more of a stir than your nipples.”

“Is that a stolen Oscar in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?”

Belle grinned down at him beatifically, and a little thrill ran through her. There was something incredibly erotic about the scene, her in her evening gown, her husband kneeling naked at her feet, and she felt the warmth beginning to pool between her legs. She held out a hand to help him up and shuffled up the bed to the pillows, stretching out on her side and patting the space beside her.

“So, about making me forget my name…”

Rum just quirked an eyebrow with a smug smile and kissed her again, working his way steadily lower over her neck and decolletage, his hand massaging her breast through her dress, palm teasing insistently against her nipple.

“Now, as beautiful as this gown is, it’s a little bit in the way of what I want to do,” he purred as he reached the top of her bodice. Belle sat up, raising her arms obediently and letting him unzip her, the dress falling down to expose her breasts, which he lavished with kisses, soothing her sore nipples with his tongue and finally pushing her back flat against the pillows to continue down, bringing the dress down with him to kiss and lick over her belly. A brief fumble had the skirt pulled down entirely, and Belle made a moue of protest as he left her to hang the dress up properly.

“We don’t want it ruined in our ardour, my love,” he said, coming back to the bed and gently parting her thighs to kneel between them, cupping her lace-covered mound and rubbing her through her underwear, tracing around her labia. Belle could tell she was already wetting through the gusset, and she bit her lip in anticipation as Rum licked her essence off his fingers. “I guess your lucky knickers haven’t lost their magic yet.”

Belle shook her head. “Never. They’re very lucky. But for now I think they’ve served their purpose.”

She began to push them down her thighs and Rum took them the rest of the way, leaving her as bare as he was.

“Now, my love.” He stroked lazily up and down her thighs. “Time to make you forget your name.”

Hooking her legs over his shoulders, Rum buried his nose in her curls, nibbling at her mound and swiping the tip of her cleft with his hard tongue, the hot touch alone enough to make Belle arch her back up off the bed with a cry.

“You’re so wet, sweetheart,” he growled. “So hot and wet and lush and I can’t wait to be inside you tonight.”

His tongue circled her clit as a finger pushed up inside, and Belle moaned, nails scrabbling at the sheets. God, her husband knew how to use his mouth. And his hands. A second finger joined the first, stroking her walls gently, a teasing touch that brought her right to the brink but wasn’t enough to push her over the edge.

“Please!” she gasped, curling her fingers into his hair. “Please, Rum.”

He just laughed against her mound, his cool breath tickling her overheated, oversensitised folds, and Belle groaned, bucking her hips up against him.

“Please!”

He continued to tease her, licking her everywhere except directly on her clit where she needed the touch, alternating between the tip of his tongue and lapping with the flat, fingers still sweeping inside her, and Belle gave a sob of pleasure and unreleased tension. Rum seemed to take pity on her with the sound then, dragging his tongue over her clit and sending the heat of her orgasm rushing through her veins.

“ _Yes!”_

Coming back to herself from the high, however, Belle realised that Rum was showing no signs of stopping now that she’d come. He grinned up at her from between her thighs, his mouth and chin shining with her juices, and slowly, deliberately, he pressed his fingers as deep as they would go inside her, crooking them and persistently rubbing her sweet spot.

Belle gave a shriek of pleasure as a second orgasm chased down the aftershocks of the first, uncaring for who outside their room might hear her. She’d just won an Oscar, she was allowed to celebrate in style. Slipping her legs off his shoulders, Rum began to kiss his way up her body, his fingers still filling her up and his thumb dabbing delicately at her hard pearl.

“Rum, please,” she managed to gasp out, the sensations threatening to completely overwhelm her and blow her brains out of her ears.

“Want to try for a third?” he growled from between her breasts, kissing a nipple and tugging on it gently, and Belle shook her head.

“Too much,” she panted. “Too good. Too sensitive. Need to recover.”

Rum nodded, carefully pulling his fingers out and moving off to the side, propping himself on one elbow and leisurely licking her slippery fluids off his hand.  Too boneless to move, Belle just watched him through pleasure narrowed eyes as her limbs gradually came back to themselves.

“Can you remember your name?” he asked, as casually as he could, but the gravelly tone in the question betrayed just how desperately aroused he was. Belle could feel the hot, hard length of his cock pressing urgently against her thigh, leaking from the tip. A little part of her was tempted to wait, to get her breath back and let him dive back between her thighs for round three, but it seemed mean to make him wait even longer for release when he had just given her two amazing orgasms and was so ready for completion himself.

“Not sure,” she murmured. “I think it’s Belle.”

She rolled onto her side, pressing herself flush against his body and reaching down to his cock, stroking him lazily and smiling at the guttural hiss that escaped his lips. “Can you remember yours?”

“Fuck, Belle.”

“I don’t think that’s it.” She rubbed her thumb over the slit at the tip of him and he growled, fingers digging into her hip.

“Belle, please.”

Belle nodded, releasing her grip on him to turn back over onto her back and welcome his warm weight covering her. He moved in her slowly, rolling his hips, and Belle pulled him close, curling her arms and legs around his back like a limpet, pressing kisses to his neck and shoulder as his thrusts began increase in speed and decrease in finesse, until he stilled with a hoarse shout of her name, warmth spiralling through her belly as he spurted inside her. Belle found his lips, a clumsy, messy kiss, hair falling into their eyes and getting in the way, but full of the fire that they were both feeling. At length, Rum pulled out and rolled off her, and they lay together exchanging soft little kisses until their skin began to cool and Belle broke out into goosebumps, her nipples puckering again. Rum raised an eyebrow at the sight as he dragged the covers up over them both and pulled Belle in close beneath the sheets, hands finding her waist and moving up to her breasts.

“Need me to warm you up, my love?” he asked.

Belle nodded sleepily, giving a hum of pleasure as he massaged her breasts, and she closed her eyes, nestling in against his shoulder.

“Thank you,” she mumbled. “I’ve had such a great night.”

“And to think that just a few short hours ago, you wanted to pack it all in and go home.” He tweaked a nipple and Belle glared at him sleepily.

“Bastard.”

“You love me really.”

“I do. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Really? What about Oscar?”

“Hmmm. He’s the second best. I don’t think he could give me as many orgasms as you do.”

“I don’t know. He’s nice and solid and well-shaped.”

“Are you suggesting I use my Oscar statue as a dildo?”

Rum shrugged. “It’d be different.”

Belle opened her mouth to say something else but instead just burst into a giggling fit.

Rum chuckled. “Go to sleep, my little winner. Think about where you’re going to put your award.”

“Well according to you, I should put him in my sex toy drawer. You know, I think the Academy might have second thoughts about your own accolades if they could hear you now.”

“Oh, be quiet.”

Belle leaned in for a final kiss and settled down to sleep, the memories of the event and the celebration that came after giving her warm, sweet dreams.

  
  



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